Homebuyers Aim To Block 'Egregious' Deal In Related Case

By Celeste Bott

Homebuyers asked an Illinois federal judge to block an allegedly inadequate settlement attorneys in a related antitrust case reached with one of the real estate firms they're suing, saying allowing their claims to be released on the cheap would encourage "forum and judge shopping in class action litigation."

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge Seems Poised To Keep Block On Trump Voting Order

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday appeared to hold fast to her two prior rulings that President Donald Trump lacks authority to change voting laws via an executive order requiring physical documentation of citizenship and voiding mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Walmart Will Pay Up To $100M To End FTC's Driver Pay Suit

By Matthew Santoni

The Federal Trade Commission and 11 states have reached a $100 million deal with Walmart to settle claims the company misled its "Spark" delivery program drivers over the amount they would be paid, and deceived customers over how much of the tips they paid would go to their drivers, the agency announced Thursday.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Arete Wealth, GC Can't Slip SEC Claims In Offering Fraud Suit

By Katryna Perera

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can move forward with its case against a broker-dealer and its former general counsel and chief compliance officer over an allegedly fraudulent stock offering by three representatives of a "sham" energy company, an Illinois federal judge ruled Thursday, while dismissing some claims related to off-channel communications and settlement releases, among other things.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Senate Judiciary Advances Illinois US Atty

By Nadia Dreid

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination of Gregory Gilmore to be U.S. attorney for the Central District of Illinois in a quick vote that passed without comment.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SEC Fines Ill. Adviser Over COVID-Era Loan Valuations

By Sydney Price

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that formerly registered investment firm Madison Capital Funding LLC will pay $900,000 to settle claims that it did not properly gauge the effects of market disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic when selling certain loans.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

PepsiCo Loses Another Frito-Lay Tax Deficiency Fight In Ill.

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois state panel affirmed a trial court's finding that PepsiCo improperly excluded Frito-Lay profits from state income tax calculations by factoring expatriates' foreign payroll into its considerations, handing the company its second appellate loss on the issue.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Told 'Skinny Label' Case Puts Generic Drugs At Risk

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. government, one named sponsor of the Hatch-Waxman Act, a generic-drug industry group and more have warned the U.S. Supreme Court that a decision that allowed a patent case involving a so-called skinny label to proceed threatens the availability of low-cost generic drugs.

6 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

What New Packaging Waste Laws Mean For Franchisors

With states ramping up laws establishing extended producer responsibility programs for packaging materials, paper products and single-use food service ware, restaurant and hospitality franchisors face special compliance challenges as they navigate a delicate balance between conflicting priorities, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Series

Playing Piano Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing piano and practicing law share many parallels relating to managing complexity: Just as hearing an entire musical passage in my head allows me to reliably deliver the message, thinking about the audience's impression helps me create a legal narrative that keeps the reader engaged, says Michael Shepherd at Fish & Richardson.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

How Epstein Referred Clients To BigLaw Partners In His Orbit

By Aebra Coe

Billionaire and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein always had top lawyers in his orbit. He also had extensive and lasting relationships with several partners at BigLaw firms, files newly released by the Department of Justice show.

58 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Goldstein Placed Under Home Confinement Until Sentencing

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein was placed under home confinement by a Maryland federal judge until his sentencing, but will likely be able to keep his $3 million D.C. home after the jury that convicted him separately found there wasn't a clear nexus between the property and his mortgage fraud conviction.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'One Way Or Another, ICE Will Comply,' Minn. Judge Vows

By Lauren Berg

The Minnesota federal court's chief judge who admonished U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for violating nearly 100 court orders concerning the Trump administration's immigration operations in the state vowed Thursday "to do whatever is required to protect the rule of law," including holding government officials in criminal contempt.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

IRS Broke Law 42K Times By Giving Info To ICE, Judge Says

By Anna Scott Farrell

The federal judge who stopped the Internal Revenue Service from sharing taxpayer addresses with immigration authorities said Thursday that a recent admission by the agency showed that it broke the law more than 42,000 times last summer when it disclosed addresses by relying on a computerized matching system.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Atty Agrees To Discipline From State Bar Over AI Errors

By Hailey Konnath

A Los Angeles attorney has agreed to be disciplined for filing appellate briefs rife with artificial intelligence-hallucinated case law quotations, according to a stipulation approved Wednesday by the California State Bar Court, which found that he "recklessly and with gross negligence failed to perform legal services with competence."

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Reed Smith Says Atty Can't Expand Pay Bias Damages Period

By Grace Elletson

Reed Smith LLP is urging a New Jersey state court to rule that an attorney who claimed the firm unlawfully underpaid her cannot expand the time window for which she's seeking damages, arguing a legal doctrine used to revive continuing claims can't be used to collect back pay.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Feds Seek To Toss DOJ Official's Suit Over Epstein-Talk Firing

By Lynn LaRowe

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a D.C. federal court to ax a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by a former DOJ official who was fired after he was surreptitiously filmed talking about Jeffrey Epstein on what he thought was a date, saying district courts don't have jurisdiction and the matter belongs in front of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Atty Owns 'Sloppy' Incorrect Citations Before Texas Justices

By José Luis Martínez

A Houston attorney told a Texas appellate panel Thursday that incorrect case citations in his brief were "sloppy" and "embarrassing," taking responsibility for errors that included nonexistent cases and inaccurate quotations.

5 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »